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Environmental Problems, Causes, and Sustainability: Living in an Exponential Age

Learn about the causes and effects of environmental problems, and discover how to live more sustainably without degrading our life-support system.

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Environmental Problems, Causes, and Sustainability: Living in an Exponential Age

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  1. Chapter 1 Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

  2. Core Case Study: Living in an Exponential Age • Human population growth: J-shaped curve Figure 1-1

  3. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE Earth's Life-Support System Human Culturesphere Water (hydrosphere) Air (atmosphere) Population Size Worldviews and ethics Soil and rocks (lithosphere) Life (biosphere) Economics Politics Fig. 1-2, p. 7

  4. What is Environmental Science? • The goals of environmental science are to learn: • how nature works. • how the environment effects us. • how we effect the environment. • how we can live more sustainably without degrading our life-support system.

  5. Sustainability: The Integrative Theme • Sustainability • the ability of earth’s various systems to survive and adapt to environmental conditions indefinitely • steps to sustainability must be supported by sound science Figure 1-3

  6. Environmentally Sustainable Societies • meet basic needs of its people • in a just and equitable manner • without degrading the natural capital that supplies these resources Figure 1-4

  7. NATURAL CAPITAL = NATURAL RESOURCES + NATURAL SERVICES NATURAL RESOURCE SERVICES NATURAL RESOURCES NATURAL SERVICES NATURAL SERVICES NATURAL RESOURCES Air purification Air Water purification Water Water storage Soil renewal Soil Nutrient recycling Land Food production Conservation of biodiversity Life (Biodiversity) NATURAL CAPITAL = + Wildlife habitat Nonrenewable minerals (iron, sand) Grassland and forest renewal Waste treatment Renewable energy sun, wind, water flows Climate control Population control (species interactions Nonrenewable energy (fossil fuels, nuclear power) Pest Control Fig. 1-4, p. 9

  8. POPULATION GROWTH, ECONOMIC GROWTH, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT • Economic growth • provides people with more goods and services • Measured in gross domestic product (GDP) and purchasing power parity (PPP) • Economic development • uses economic growth to improve living standards • The world’s countries economic status are based on their degree of industrialization and GDP-PPP • developed vs. developing

  9. Percentage of World's 18 Population 82 0.1 Population Growth 1.5 85 Wealth and Income 15 88 Resource use 12 Pollution and waste 75 25 Developingcountries Developed countries Fig. 1-5, p. 11

  10. Fig. 1-6, p. 11

  11. RESOURCES • Perpetual: • On a human time scale are continuous. • Renewable: • On a human time scale can be replenished rapidly (e.g. hours to several decades). • Nonrenewable: • On a human time scale are in fixed supply.

  12. Nonrenewable Resources • Exist as fixed quantity • Becomes economically depleted • Recycling and reusing extends supply • Recycling processes waste material into new material • Reuseis using a resource over again in the same form Figure 1-8

  13. Total Footprint (million hectares) and Share of Global Ecological Capacity (%) 2,810 (25%) United States 2,160 (19%) European Union 2,050 (18%) China 780 (7%) India Japan 540 (5%) 1 hectare = 10,000m2 Fig. 1-7a, p. 13

  14. Footprint Per Person (hectares per person) 9.7 United States 4.7 European Union 1.6 China 0.8 India 4.8 Japan Fig. 1-7b, p. 13

  15. Earth’s Ecological Capacity Number of Earths Humanity's Ecological Footprint Year Fig. 1-7c, p. 13

  16. Our Ecological Footprint • Humanity’s ecological footprint has exceeded earths ecological capacity. Figure 1-7

  17. POLLUTION • found at high enough levels in the environment to cause harm to organisms • Point source • Nonpoint source Figure 1-9

  18. Pollution • Unwanted effects of pollutants include: • Can disrupt / degrade life-support systems • Can damage health and property • Can create nuisances such as noise and unpleasant smells, tastes, and sights

  19. Thinking About Pollution & Exponential Growth How is exponential population growth related to the production of waste & pollution? What can we do? Lifestyle changes?

  20. ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS: CAUSES AND CONNECTIONS • major causes of environmental problems: • Population growth • Wasteful resource use • Poverty • Poor environmental accounting • Ecological ignorance

  21. SOLAR CAPITAL EARTH Goods and services Heat Human Economic and Cultural Systems Human Capital Depletion of nonrenewable resources Degradation of renewable resources Natural Capital Pollution and waste Recycling and reuse Fig. 1-10, p. 17

  22. Natural capital degradation • exponential increasing flow of material resources through the world’s economic systems • depletes, degrades and pollutes the environment Figure 1-11

  23. Solutions: Prevention vs. Cleanup • Problems with relying on cleanup: • Temporary bandage without improvements in control technology • Often removes a pollutant from one part of the environment to cause problems in another • Pollutants at harmful levels can cost too much to reduce them to acceptable levels

  24. Thinking About Preventing Pollution and Exponential Growth • How can placing a greater emphasis on pollution prevention reduce the exponential growth of the human ecological footprint and your own ecological footprint?

  25. Poverty and Environmental Problems • 1 of 3 children under 5, suffer from severe malnutrition Figure 1-12 and 1-13

  26. Number of people(% of world's population) Lack ofaccess to Adequate Sanitation 2.4 billion (37%) Enough fuel for heating and cooking 2 billion (31%) Electricity 1.6 billion (25%) Clean drinking Water 1.1 billion (17%) Adequate health care 1.1 billion (17%) Enough food for good health 1.1 billion (17%) Fig. 1-12, p. 18

  27. Resource Consumption and Environmental Problems • Underconsumption • Overconsumption • Affluenza: unsustainable addiction to overconsumption and materialism

  28. Connections between Environmental Problems and Their Causes Figure 1-14

  29. CULTURAL CHANGES AND THE ENVIRONMENT • Agricultural revolution • Allowed people to stay in one place • Industrial-medical revolution • Led shift from rural villages to urban society • Science improved sanitation and disease control • Information-globalization revolution • Rapid access to information

  30. Which single advantage and disadvantage are the most important? • Advantage • Disadvantage Figure 1-15

  31. Trade-Offs Industrial-Medical Revolution Advantages DIsadvantages Mass production of useful and affordable products Increased air pollution Increased water pollution Higher standard of living for many Increased waste pollution Greatly increased agricultural production Soil depletion and degradation Lower infant mortality Groundwater depletion Longer life expectancy Habitat destruction and degradation Increased urbanization Lower rate of population growth Biodiversity depletion Fig. 1-15, p. 23

  32. SUSTAINABILITY ANDENVIRONMENTAL WORLDVIEWS • Technological optimists: • suggest that human ingenuity will keep the environment sustainable • Environmental pessimists: • overstate the problems where our environmental situation seems hopeless

  33. How Would You Vote? To conduct an instant in-class survey using a classroom response system, access “JoinIn Clicker Content” from the PowerLecture main menu for Living in the Environment. • Is the society you live in on an unsustainable path? • a. Yes: Without readily available green products and services, converting to a sustainable society is unrealistic. • b. Not entirely: I'm doing what I can to improve sustainability, including recycling and using less energy.

  34. Four Scientific Principles of Sustainability: Copy Nature • Reliance on Solar Energy • Biodiversity • Population Control • Nutrient Recycling Figure 1-16

  35. Aldo Leopold’s Environmental Ethics • Individuals matter. • … land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics. • We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity… Figure 1-A

  36. Solutions Principles of Sustainability How Nature Works Lessons for Us Runs on renewable solar energy. Rely mostly on renewable solar energy. Recycles nutrients and wastes. There is little waste in nature. Prevent and reduce pollution and recycle and reuse resources. Preserve biodiversity by protecting ecosystem services and habitats and preventing premature extinction of species. Uses biodiversity to maintain itself and adapt to new environ- mental conditions. Controls a species’ population size and resource use by interactions with its environment and other species. Reduce human births and wasteful resource use to prevent environmental overload and depletion and degradation of resources. Fig. 1-17, p. 25

  37. Current Emphasis Pollution cleanup Waste disposal (bury or burn) Protecting species Environmental degradation Increased resource use Population growth Depleting and degrading natural capital Sustainability Emphasis Pollution prevention (cleaner production) Waste prevention and reduction Protecting where species live (habitat protection) Environmental restoration Less wasteful (more efficient) resource use Population stabilization by decreasing birth rates Protecting natural capital and living off the biological interest it provides Stepped Art Fig. 1-18, p. 25

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